Roller Shoe

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a roller shoe having a roller mounted on the front and back portions of an outsole, the roller shoe including: a fixing body insertedly fixed on the outsole, the fixing body having an insertion hole opened downwardly therefrom and a plurality of guide protrusions formed axially on the inner lateral wall of the insertion hole; a roller-fixing member and an auxiliary outsole which are selectively fitted to the insertion hole of the fixing body, the roller-fixing member having the roller coupled to the lower portion thereof, and the roller-fixing member and the auxiliary outsole each having a plurality of guide grooves formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof so as to allow the plurality of guide protrusions of the fixing body to be fitted thereinto; and fixing means adapted to fix the roller-fixing member and the auxiliary outsole selectively fixed insertedly to the fixing body.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to roller shoes (inline skate type rollerskates), and more particularly, to roller shoes in which a roller can beeasily detachably mounted on an outsole thereof, while minimizing thethickness of an outsole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Roller skates as generally known have a plurality of rollers mounted intwo rows or one row in forward and backward directions on an outsole.Among them, especially, inline skate type roller skates having therollers mounted in one row provide good speeds and various skatingtechniques, and thus, they are very popular to a lot of peoples.

Since the inline skate type roller skates have the rollers fixedlymounted on the outsoles, however, they cannot be used as general shoes.

Unlike the typical roller skates as widely known conventionally,recently, there are proposed improved roller skates having a rollermounted on the heel portion thereof.

Since the roller is detachably mounted on the improved roller skates,both of walking and skating can be provided to a wearer, thereby givinglots of pleasures to the wearers. As only a single roller is mounted onthe heel portion of each shoe, however, it is difficult for a beginnerwearer to maintain the balancing during the skating, which causes anumber of safety problems.

On the other hand, a variety of inline type skate roller skates havingthe rollers detachably mounted thereon have been proposed and marketed.But since they have the shaft formed integrally with the rollers in sucha manner as to be separated from the skates, a fixing body adapted tohold the shaft is disposed inside the outsole. In this structure, thefixing body disposed on the outsole has a larger thickness than thecenter of the roller, and therefore, if the roller is mounted on thefront portion of the outsole of the skate, the outsole becomesexcessively thick, thereby making the wearer feel inconvenient uponwalking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of theabove-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an objectof the present invention to provide roller shoes in which a roller canbe easily detachably mounted on an outsole thereof, while minimizing thethickness of an outsole.

To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention,there is provided a roller shoe having a roller mounted on the front andback portions of an outsole, the roller shoe including: a fixing bodyinsertedly fixed on the outsole, the fixing body having an insertionhole opened downwardly therefrom and a plurality of guide protrusionsformed axially on the inner lateral wall of the insertion hole; aroller-fixing member and an auxiliary outsole which are selectivelyfitted to the insertion hole of the fixing body, the roller-fixingmember having the roller coupled to the lower portion thereof, and theroller-fixing member and the auxiliary outsole each having a pluralityof guide grooves formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof so as toallow the plurality of guide protrusions of the fixing body to be fittedthereinto; and fixing means adapted to fix the roller-fixing member andthe auxiliary outsole selectively fixed insertedly to the fixing body.

The fixing means includes a permanent magnet embedded on the bottomsurface of the insertion hole of the fixing body and a magneticsubstance insertedly fixed to the roller-fixing member and the auxiliaryoutsole in such a manner as to be attached to the permanent magnet.

Alternatively, the fixing means includes locking holes formed at theopposing positions to each other along the inner lateral wall of theinsertion hole of the fixing body and elastic locking pieces each havinga locking projection formed on the roller-fixing member and theauxiliary outsole in such a manner as to be correspondingly locked tothe locking holes.

According to the present invention, the outsole of the roller shoe has aplurality of separation grooves formed thereon in such a manner as toabut against the outer periphery of the fixing body, and the auxiliaryoutsole has a plurality of grips formed along the outer peripherythereof and adapted to be inserted correspondingly into the plurality ofseparation grooves.

According to the present invention, first, the roller-fixing member towhich the roller is coupled and the auxiliary outsole are fitted to theinsertion hole of the fixing body adapted to be insertedly fitted to theoutsole of the shoe and are thus fixed to the fixing body by means of amagnetic force, thereby allowing the mounting and demounting to beeasily conducted.

Secondly, after the roller-fixing member to which the roller is coupledand the auxiliary outsole are fitted to the insertion hole of the fixingbody adapted to be insertedly fitted to the outsole of the shoe, theelastic locking pieces formed on each of the roller-fixing member andthe auxiliary outsole and the locking holes formed on the insertion holeare coupled correspondingly to each other, thereby allowing the mountingand demounting to be easily conducted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description ofthe preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a bottom perspective view showing roller shoes according to afirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b are sectional views showing the main parts of theroller shoes according to the first embodiment of the present invention,wherein FIG. 2 a shows the state where a roller-fixing member is removedfrom the shoe and FIG. 2 b shows the state where the roller-fixingmember is coupled to the shoe;

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b are sectional views showing the main parts of theroller shoes according to the first embodiment of the present invention,wherein FIG. 3 a shows the state where an auxiliary outsole is coupledto the shoe and FIG. 3 b shows the state where the auxiliary outsole isremoved from the shoe;

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view showing roller shoes according to asecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b are sectional views showing the main parts of theroller shoes according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention, wherein FIG. 5 a shows the state where a roller-fixing memberis coupled to the shoe and FIG. 5 b shows the state where theroller-fixing member is removed from the shoe; and

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b are sectional views showing the main parts of theroller shoes according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention, wherein FIG. 6 a shows the state where the auxiliary outsoleis coupled to the shoe and FIG. 6 b shows the state where the auxiliaryoutsole is removed from the shoe.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an explanation on a roller shoe according to the preferredembodiments of the present invention will be given with reference to theattached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a bottom perspective view showing roller shoes according to afirst embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 a and 2 b aresectional views showing the main parts of the roller shoes according tothe first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 2 a showsthe state where a roller-fixing member is removed from the shoe and FIG.2 b shows the state where the roller-fixing member is coupled to theshoe, and FIGS. 3 a and 3 b are sectional views showing the main partsof the roller shoes according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention, wherein FIG. 3 a shows the state where an auxiliary outsoleis coupled to the shoe and FIG. 3 b shows the state where the auxiliaryoutsole is removed from the shoe.

As shown, there is provided a roller shoe 1 having a roller 3 mounted onthe front and back portions of an outsole 2, the roller shoe 1including: a fixing body 10 insertedly fixed on the outsole 2; and aroller-fixing member 20 and an auxiliary outsole 30 which areselectively fitted to the fixing body 10, the roller-fixing member 20having the roller 3 coupled to the lower portion thereof.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the rollershoe 1 includes: the fixing body 10 insertedly fixed on the outsole 2made of an EVA resin material and having a base plate 2 a made of arubber material attached thereon, the fixing body 10 having an insertionhole 11 opened downwardly therefrom; and the roller-fixing member 20 andthe auxiliary outsole 30 selectively fitted to the fixing body 10.

The roller-fixing member 20 that is selectively fitted to the insertionhole 11 of the fixing body 10 has the roller 3 separably coupled to thelower portion thereof. The roller 3 is coupled in such a manner that theshaft integrally formed to the roller 3 is forcedly pressed-fitted to abracket 21 formed on the roller-fixing member 20, which is a generaltechnique in this field.

Fixing means 40 for the roller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliaryoutsole 30 selectively fitted to the fixing body 10 includes a permanentmagnet 41 embedded on the bottom surface of the insertion hole 11 of thefixing body 10 and a magnetic substance 42 insertedly fixed to theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 in such a manner asto be attached to the permanent magnet 41.

When the roller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 areinserted into the insertion hole 11, thus, the magnetic substance 42 isattached to the permanent magnet 41 by means of a strong magnetic forcegenerated from the permanent magnet 41, thereby maintaining the firmlyattaching state.

Further, the roller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 shouldbe maintained in their directions, without any rotation, in the statewhere they are inserted into the insertion hole 11, and according to thepresent invention, therefore, a plurality of guide protrusions 12 areformed in an axial direction on the inner lateral wall of the insertionhole 11 and a plurality of guide grooves 22 and 32 are formed on theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 so as tocorrespondingly insert the guide protrusions 12 thereinto, such that inthe state where the roller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30are inserted into the insertion hole 11, they can be rigidly fixedthereto, without any rotation.

Even if not shown, it is of course possible that the guide grooves maybe formed on the inner lateral wall of the insertion hole 11 and theguide protrusions may be formed on the roller-fixing member 20 and theauxiliary outsole 30.

In the above-mentioned structure, the roller-fixing member 20 is easilyremoved from the fixing body 10 by pulling the roller 3 or the protrudedbracket 21 to which the roller 3 is fixed. However, it is very hard toremove the auxiliary outsole 30 from the fixing body 10, without anyseparate means.

In order to solve this problem, thus, the outsole 2 of the roller shoe 1has a plurality of separating grooves 4 formed thereon in such a manneras to abut against the outer periphery of the fixing body 10, and theauxiliary outsole 30 has a plurality of grips 33 formed along the outerperiphery thereof and adapted to be inserted correspondingly into theseparating grooves 4.

At this time, the grips 33 have a smaller size than the separatinggrooves 4 so as to be disposed inside the separating grooves 4.

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view showing roller shoes according to asecond embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 5 a and 5 b aresectional views showing the main parts of the roller shoes according tothe second embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 5 a showsthe state where a roller-fixing member is coupled to the shoe and FIG. 5b shows the state where the roller-fixing member is removed from theshoe, and FIGS. 6 a and 6 b are sectional views showing the main partsof the roller shoes according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention, wherein FIG. 6 a shows the state where the auxiliary outsoleis coupled to the shoe and FIG. 6 b shows the state where the auxiliaryoutsole is removed from the shoe.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the rollershoe 1 includes: the fixing body 10 insertedly fixed on the outsole 2and having the insertion hole 11 opened downwardly therefrom; and theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 selectively fittedto the fixing body 10, the roller-fixing member 20 having the roller 3separably coupled to the lower portion thereof.

Fixing means 40 for the roller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliaryoutsole 30 selectively fitted to the fixing body 10 includes: lockingholes 43 formed at the opposing positions to each other along the innerlateral wall of the insertion hole 11 of the fixing body 10; and elasticlocking pieces 44 each having a locking projection 45 formed on theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 in such a manner asto be correspondingly locked to the locking holes 43.

The elastic locking pieces 44 are fixed at one ends thereof to theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30, and thus, when theelastic locking pieces 44 are pressurized, they are moved at the endportion where the locking projection 45 is formed toward theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30. If thepressurizing force against the elastic locking pieces 44 is removed, theend portions where the locking projections 45 are formed on the elasticlocking pieces 44 are moved to the outsides of the roller-fixing member20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 and are thus inserted into the lockingholes 43.

In order to rigidly maintain the inserted state of the roller-fixingmember 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 into the insertion hole 11, likethe first embodiment of the present invention, the guide protrusions 12are formed in an axial direction on the inner lateral wall of theinsertion hole 11, and the guide grooves 22 and 32 are formed on theroller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30 so as tocorrespondingly insert the guide protrusions 12 thereinto.

In the above-mentioned structure, the elastic locking pieces 44 formedalong the outer periphery of the roller-fixing member 20 are fixed atone ends thereof to the protruded bracket 21 to which the roller 3 isfixed, such that the roller-fixing member 20 is easily removed from thefixing body 10. However, it is very hard to remove the auxiliary outsole30 from the fixing body 10, without any separate means. In order tosolve this problem, thus, the outsole 2 of the roller shoe 1 has theseparating grooves 4 formed thereon in such a manner as to abut againstthe outer periphery of the fixing body 10, and each elastic lockingpiece 44 formed on the auxiliary outsole 30 is exposed partially throughthe separating groove 4, such that when the elastic locking pieces 44are pressurized, the auxiliary outsole 30 can be easily separated fromthe fixing body 10.

According to the first and second embodiments of the present invention,the roller-fixing member 20 and the auxiliary outsole 30, which areselectively inserted into the fixing body 10 insertedly fixed to theoutsole 2, are easily removed from the fixing body 10, such that sincethe roller shoe 1 is rapidly converted into a general shoe, no separatepurchase for the general shoes is needed, thereby obtaining economicalsaving.

As described above, there is provided the roller shoe that is capable ofgreatly reducing the thickness of the outsole by the insertion of thefixing body into the outsole and easily mounting removably theroll-fixing member and the auxiliary outsole onto the fixing body so asto be rapidly converted into a general shoe, which does not need anyseparate purchase for the general shoes, thereby obtaining economicalsaving.

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by theembodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodimentswithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

1. A roller shoe having a roller mounted on the front and back portionsof an outsole, the roller shoe comprising: a fixing body insertedlyfixed on the outsole and having an insertion hole opened downwardlytherefrom and a plurality of guide protrusions formed axially on theinner lateral wall of the insertion hole; a roller-fixing member and anauxiliary outsole selectively fitted to the insertion hole of the fixingbody, the roller-fixing member having the roller coupled to the lowerportion thereof, and the roller-fixing member and the auxiliary outsoleeach having a plurality of guide grooves formed on the outer peripheralsurface thereof so as to allow the plurality of guide protrusions of thefixing body to be fitted thereinto; and fixing means adapted to fix theroller-fixing member and the auxiliary outsole selectively fixedinsertedly to the fixing body.
 2. The roller shoe according to claim 1,wherein the fixing means comprises a permanent magnet embedded on thebottom surface of the insertion hole of the fixing body and a magneticsubstance insertedly fixed to the roller-fixing member and the auxiliaryoutsole in such a manner as to be attached to the permanent magnet. 3.The roller shoe according to claim 1, wherein the fixing means compriseslocking holes formed at the opposing positions to each other along theinner lateral wall of the insertion hole of the fixing body and elasticlocking pieces each having a locking projection formed on theroller-fixing member and the auxiliary outsole in such a manner as to becorrespondingly locked to the locking holes.
 4. The roller shoeaccording to claim 1, wherein the outsole of the roller shoe has aplurality of separating grooves formed thereon in such a manner as toabut against the outer periphery of the fixing body, and the auxiliaryoutsole has a plurality of grips formed along the outer peripherythereof and adapted to be inserted correspondingly into the plurality ofseparating grooves.